STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK small caps down 0.2 pct early on

The FTSE Small Caps index loses 0.2 percent in early trade, tracking similar falls by the FTSE 100 index, also down 0.2 percent, with the FTSE 250 index off 0.3 percent.

Avanti Communications drops 14 percent as the satellites operator posts an increased full-year pretax loss of 16 million pounds, up from a 12.7 million pounds loss last year, and says the phasing of its contract backlog is more back-ended than anticipated, with existing satellites expected to be full at the current run rate in 2016.

Oxford BioMedica sheds 5.5 percent as the firm says it is closing a mid-stage clinical trial of its cancer vaccine TroVax in U.S. patients with prostate cancer, dealing a further blow to the troubled product.